The Four Perspectives

1. System Perspective
• St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12:12 ( The New American Bible), using an analogy speaks
of the Church as a body, “the body is one and has many members, but all the members,
many though they are, are one body; and so it is with Christ.” From a systems
perspective, community, just like a church, is similar to a living creature, made up of
different parts that represent individual functions, activities, each operating within
specific boundaries to meet the needs of the community. For examples, the Department
of Health focuses on the prevention and treatment of diseases and injuries, the
Department od Education ensures quality education, the Bureau of Revenue collects
proper taxes from the people, and the PNP maintains peace and order. The key to this
perspective is that to address a community’s complex reality successfully requires
proper integration, collaboration, and constant coordination of resources from all its
parts, just like a body. Hence, from a systems perspective , collaboration is an
integral and logical element.
 2. Social Perspective
• This perspective describes the social and political networks that connect
individuals, organizations, and its leaders. A clear understanding of the
different networks is crucial in planning how to engage in community
activities.
 3. Virtual Perspective
• Today, individuals rely heavily on computer-mediated communication.
During the 60’s, I remember my father receiving a telegram on the passing
away of one of his uncles through RCPI; the message reads “Uncle Ben
passed away yesterday.” Now the same message can be sent in less than 5
seconds through text. Technology continues amaze me. Virtual
communities are social groups or groups with a common interest that
interact in an organized fashion using the Internet.
 4. Individual Perspective
• Individuals who are living in a community have their unique sense of
membership. Some may even have a sense of belonging to more than one
community. Fro example, I grew up in Candelaria, Quezon but since 1988,
I am already a resident of Las Piñas City. Also, sense of membership can
change over time and will affect the degree of participation in community
activities. Twenty-five years ago, our community actively participated in
the church’s fiesta activities. However, when residents started to move
out, the remaining members find it hard to solicit the help of the new
members.
Community as a Group
 The definition of community given by Gideon Sjoberg is by our
understanding that communities are a type of group.
Robert Freed Bales who pioneered the development of systematic
methods of group observation and measurement of interaction
processes provides us the distinguishing criteria of communities as
groups, and they are as follows:
1. Interaction among members of the community is present, although to a great
communities, for examples, Moonwalk Village in Las Piñas City, each
member seldom, if ever, communicates with all the other members.

2. Members share one or more goals, which call for group action, e.g., reduction
of house break-ins, no selling of alcoholic beverage, cigarettes and lotto
tickets for those who are 18 years old and below, and improvement of
cleanliness in the community.

3. Most of the members adhere to a set of norms or standards that serve as

guides to their goal-directed behaviour and interpersonal relationship (for
examples, the imposition of juvenile curfew and traffic regulations within
their community).
4. Should the group remain a community, a stable set of roles will eventually
emerge in time. Among the roles that we can mention are those of the police
officers, the mayor, the school principle, the BIR manager, and even that of the
pastor or minister.

5. Over a period, a pattern of interpersonal attractions will also emerge,

showing the likes and dislikes of the members of the community. Examples are
misunderstanding to the point of hostilities between ethnic groups in a
community and patterns of intolerance towards the LGBT members.